Indians lose 5.3 years of life to air pollution, finds study. Delhiites lose 11.9 years

The report highlighted that India's 1.3 billion people live in areas where the air pollution levels exceed WHO standards. (File photo)

An average Indian citizen loses around 5.3 years of life expectancy due to air pollution, while people in Delhi, often labelled the most polluted city in the world, lose by as much as 11.9 years of their life, an updated Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago has found.

India ranked second among the countries worst hit by air pollution with Bangladesh topping the list. An average citizen in Bangladesh loses 6.8 years of their life to air pollution. Nepal ranked third followed by Pakistan and Mongolia.

The Index, based on the WHO standards factoring annual average PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) levels, shows several areas of India faring poorly with air pollution shortening lives by 11.2 years in Gurgaon, 10.8 years in Faridabad, 10.1 years in Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh), 9.7 years each in Lucknow and Kanpur, and 8.7 years in Patna, the Times of India reported.

The report also highlighted the country's 1.3 billion people live in areas where the air pollution levels exceed WHO standards and that 67.4 percent of India's population lives in areas that exceed its own national air quality standards.

It added that when measured in terms of life expectancy, particulate pollution is the greatest threat to human health in India with cardiovascular diseases reducing the average life expectancy by about 4.5 years, the Times of India reported.

“The impact of PM2.5 on global life expectancy is comparable to that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, more than 5 times that of transport injuries like car crashes, and more than 7 times that of HIV/AIDS,” the University of Chicago report stated. “Three-quarters of air pollution’s impact on global life expectancy occurs in just six countries -- Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria and Indonesia -- where people lose one to more than six years of their lives because of the air they breathe,” said Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and the lead researcher of the Index.

China, in comparison, has witnessed a massive development in its air quality index, the report added. An average Chinese citizen has seen an improvement -- from 4.7 years of life expectancy being lost in 2013 to 2.5 now, an improvement of 2.2 years, thanks to policies to curb air pollution, it stated.

Read more: Indian-origin US presidential candidate Nikki Haley calls India ‘one of the biggest polluters'